In accordance with the requirement stipulated in the Property Management Services Ordinance (Cap. 626) (the Ordinance), the Property Management Services Authority (PMSA) will publish in the Gazette tomorrow the list of licensees as of 31 January 2022 under the property management (PM) industry licensing regime. The list contains the information about a total of 6,115 licensed property management practitioners (PMPs) and companies (PMCs) for public inspection.
Under the licensing regime, all PMCs providing properties (subject to deeds of mutual covenant) with more than one category of prescribed PM services, as well as PMPs designated for managerial or supervisory role in such PMCs for providing PM services, must hold valid PM licence starting from 1 August 2023 in order to continue to provide PM services in accordance with the Ordinance.
As of mid-February this year, the PMSA has issued over 6,200 PMP and PMC licences since the implementation of the property management industry licensing regime, whereby formal PMP and PMC licences account for 61%, while provisional PMP licences account for 39%.
The PMSA Chairperson Mr Tony TSE said, “The first half of the three-year transitional period (up till the end of July 2023) has passed and PMPs’ response to licence application has been enthusiastic, but the response of PMCs has been slow. Only over 50 PMCs have so far obtained licence. Owners’ organisations should examine and pay attention to the licence application arrangement and timetable of their PMCs as soon as possible, especially for those PMCs with contract period beyond 1 August 2023, to ensure that the PMCs concerned have obtained licence by the above date so that the PM services at the relevant properties would not be adversely affected. The PMSA, therefore, will enhance its promotional efforts and appeal to PMCs for making licence application as early as possible.”
Chairperson TSE added, “The PMSA expects that most PMCs would submit their licence applications in the coming 18 months. If the PMSA received a large number of applications in a short period of time or near the end of the transitional period, it would pose substantial pressure on the processing of applications and this might affect licensing work progress. If certain PMCs provided incomplete information or failed to meet the relevant licensing criteria, then they might have to bear the risk of not obtaining the licence in time before the end of the transitional period. In such cases, the PMCs concerned might not be able to provide PM services seamlessly after the end of the transitional period and the daily life of the concerned PM service users would be affected. Furthermore, when engaging PMCs in future, owners’ organisations should consider stipulating that PMCs holding valid licence should be a prerequisite for submitting tender.”
Owners’ organisations and the public may inspect the register with the information of licensed PMCs as well as formal and provisional PMPs (Tier 1) and (Tier 2) licence holders, including their name and licence number, through the following channels:
- Register of licensees (online version) – available at the PMSA website https://eapplication.pmsa.org.hk/registers/; or
- Register of licensees (original version) – available at the PMSA office (Units 806-8, 8/F., Dah Sing Financial Centre, 248 Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai, Hong Kong) during office hours.
PMPs who do not meet the relevant criteria for academic and/or professional qualifications for formal PMP licence but possess the specified work experience may apply for provisional licence during the transitional period under the licensing regime and attend the PMSA Specified Courses designated for the licensing regime. Upon successful completion of the Specified Courses within the validity of the provisional licence, they may apply for formal PMP licence without fulfilling the academic and/or professional qualifications required. Up till now, almost 2,000 persons have attended the PMSA Specified Courses.
Ends/Thursday, 17 February 2022
Issued at HKT 15:00
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